The German Party Political Compass

The rightward drift of the Social Democrats - not as ideologically dramatic as the British Labour Party's - nevertheless has contributed to the establishment of the Left Party. This new party remains something of an unknown quantity, given the diversity of the left backgrounds of its key spokespeople and some uncharacteristically anti- immigrant statements by high- profile SPD defector, Oskar Lafontaine. The narrowing ideological gap between the SPD and the CDU is reflected by the open discussion within some SPD circles of a coalition with the CDU - an unthinkable proposition so far before any past election.

This time around, the Greens look less like a serious political party and more like a feel-good movement. The Free Democrats, like the US Libertarian Party, advocate certain social freedoms while remaining focused on the freedom that actually matters most to them - the free market.

In keeping with the UK's British National Party , the real extremism of the National Democrats does not lie in its economics, but rather in its social attitudes.